AIM’s 2013 Yearend Wrapup: Q-2

A new map of the algae industry published online by the Algae Biomass Organization

n April…Mark Edwards and Robert Henrikson won Best Science Book award for their collaboration on Peace Microfarms… Life Technologies Corporation, of Carlsbad, California, was acquired by Waltham, Massachusetts-based Thermo Fisher Scientific for approximately $13.6 billion… the National Algae Association’s Algae Farming Workshop was held in the Houston, Texas, area and focused on getting algae production out of research and development and into commercial production… Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the US Department of Agriculture was extending for five years its agreement to work with the Federal Aviation Administration and other partners to help develop a viable biofuel for the aviation industry… a new map of the algae industry was published online by theAlgae Biomass Organization, showing algae production facilities and research projects stretching from coast to coast… a group of researchers at Sweden’s Uppsala University announced the discovery – in two different strains of the green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii – that a considerable amount of the energy absorbed by Photosystem II goes directly into hydrogen production…researchers at the Institute of Environmental Scienceand Technology and the Institute of Marine Sciences in Spain, showed that dinoflagellate microalgae are highly suitable for cultivation with the goal of producing biodiesel…BioProcess Algae was granted up to $6.4 million from the U.S. Energy Department to evaluate an innovative algal growth platform that will produce hydrocarbon fuels meeting military specifications using renewable carbon dioxide, lignocellulosic sugars, and waste heat…Algae Testbed Public-Private Partnership members from across the U.S. gathered at the Arizona State University Polytechnic campus for their national kickoff meetings to discuss strategies for advancing research and development of algae-based technologies…Heliae launched its microalgae production platform, Volaris™ – a commercially validated technology system for producing high purity microalgae at competitive prices…in Germany, an experimental building named BIQ (Bio Intelligent Quotient) – with algae panels as construction elements, creating a unique heating system – was opened to the public…US Fuel Corporation joint ventured with Renewed World Energies, Inc. to integrate RWE’s patent pending photobioreactor into US Fuel’s coal-to-liquid plants…Heliae partnered with Evodos to offer its Spiral Plate Technology to the North American market…Cereplast announced a new bioplastic resin grade, Biopropylene® A150D, manufactured with 51% post-industrial algae biomass…

Kengo Suzuki, head of Research and Development at Euglena Co., works in the company’s laboratory in Tokyo. Euglena, a venture formed by the University of Tokyo, has soared 10-fold this year for the second-best performance on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers Index. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

n May…Euglena, a Japanese biotech venture focused on making jet fuel from algae, was soaring in Tokyo trading as cash was being pumped into the economy by the central bank, drawing investors to speculative shares like biotech…Aurora Algae announced plans to build a larger, commercial plant at Maitland, near Karratha, Australia…Dr. Matthew Croughan joined Sapphire Energy as Chief Technology Officer…Pacific Northwest National Laboratory released a new analysis showing that land and water resources could likely support the growth of enough algae to produce up to 25 billion gallons of algae-based fuel a year in the United States, one-twelfth of the country’s yearly needs…Michael J. Kamdar was appointed president of Cellana…Dr. Ernest Moniz was sworn in as the nation’s 13th Secretary of Energy…Alltech introduced SP-1 to provide a consistent source of algae with a wide range of benefits for a variety of livestock species…A team of researchers at Japan’s National Institute for Basic Biology was the first to provide definitive proof that green algae eat bacteria…researchers at the Chaim Sheba Medical Center, in Tel Hashomer, Israel, found that a powder produced from orange algae can help treat Retinitis pigmentosa…an alliance between the Chilean firmProductoras de Algas Marinas Ltda (Prodalmar), and the Chinese algae group Qingdao Mingyue Seaweed Co. Ltd. created Mingyue Chile, a new company in the Chilean algae industry planning to cultivate and develop products from brown, green and red algae…the Nation First International Development Asia Company signed an agreement with Hisham Koh & Associates to launch algae farming in Yangon, the commercial hub of Myanmar…

Muradel has developed low energy harvesting technology using electro-flocculation-flotation processes in a liquid constrained environment separating, algal biomass from recyclable substrates. Algae are grown in open raceway ponds using seawater.

n June…Algenol put a hold on building a nearly $500-million algae-to-ethanol production plant in Florida, in the aftermath of Governor Rick Scott signing a bill repealing a law that requires gasoline sold in Florida to contain 10-percent ethanol…scientists at the Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute completed sequencing the Emiliania huxleyi genome, allowing them to compare the sequences of this bottom of the food chain alga with those from other algal isolates…Pond Biofuels worked with Canadian Natural Resources Ltd on a $19-million pilot project using industrial flue gases from its Alberta cement plant to feed algae in Pond’s biorefinery unit…Toronto, Ontario-based Solutions4CO2 Inc. joint ventured with Quinlan Brothers Ltd to produce high value omega-3/astaxanthin enriched oils from cold water shrimp waste streams using S4CO2′s Bio-Extraction Process… Aurora Algae received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the U.S. Patent Application entitled “VCP-Based Vectors for Algal Cell Transformation”…in Australia the first “green crude” from microalgae was produced at a pilot scale by Muradel Pty Ltd… Grovepoint acknowledged investing $50 million for a 56% stake in Israeli-based astaxanthin suppliers Algatechnologies Ltd… Solazyme, Inc. and Roquette Frères, S.A. dissolved their three-year joint venture, Solazyme Roquette Nutritionals, LLC, which was seeking to commercialize microalgae-sourced, nutrition-focused ingredients… the U.S. Supreme Court halted the progress of a challenge to E15 fuel sales, a move boding well for algae companies operating in the ethanol space…a project in Chiclana, Spain, called All-gas, claimed to be the first municipal wastewater plant using cultivated algae as a source for biofuel…an Indiana startup company named Atlantic Green Technology Inc. announced their developing of a strain of algae that grows yearlong in the Midwest…OriginOiladapted their Algaeappliance, which incorporates the company’s Electro Water Separation™ technology, to a new platform designed to eliminate ammonia and reduce infestations in fish farming ponds…research at the University of Delaware identified a hardy microalgae species, Heterosigma akashiwo, showing promise in both reducing power plant pollution and making biofuel…